Contribution Points, Awakening

The Hibernating Dragon Stance required the legs to stretch far apart front to back, the spine to twist like a venomous snake, brewing a spirit and vigor with its edge half revealed.

Like a venomous snake waking from hibernation—ravenous and fiercely aggressive.

At Ninth High School, even among the top students in the Rocket Class, those who could hold it for over ten minutes were as rare as phoenix feathers and qilin horns.

Their Class 6, meanwhile, was merely an ordinary Parallel Class.

There were still half an hour until class ended.

Everyone knew that Meng Chao had been injured in his second year of high school and hospitalized for several months.

After leaving the hospital, he had completely let himself go. He had no intention of entering an Undergraduate Program, and even the basic Nine Great Stances were nothing special to him.

After holding the Hibernating Dragon Stance for half an hour, he would be crawling home after school.

Quite a few students felt the sorrow of a rabbit dying while the fox mourned, privately thinking that Devil Yan was truly ruthless.

With his arms folded, Zuo Haoran sat down with a cold sneer.

Meng Chao obediently went to stand in the corner.

"The Hibernating Dragon Stance seems to be an extremely simple beginner's stance training technique. It was eliminated long ago in the nightmare. How exactly was I supposed to stand again?"

Meng Chao searched his memories.

His mind was still muddled, unable to tell dream from reality.

"Stop showing off and beg for mercy already!"

Everyone assumed Meng Chao did not dare to hold the Hibernating Dragon Stance. Unable to bear watching, they whispered reminders to him.

"A black sheep brought this upon himself!"

Zuo Haoran muttered to himself, his voice just loud enough for those nearby to hear.

Before his words had faded, Meng Chao moved.

Whoosh!

His front leg bent, his rear leg stretched taut. His arms unfurled like nimble serpents, and his spine resembled a flood dragon that had just awakened from an abyss, gathering momentum amid spring thunder.

Meng Chao's spirit and vigor erupted like a mountain flood. He could not control himself at all.

"This—"

The students were all dumbfounded.

They only felt that Meng Chao had shed his mortal frame and exchanged his bones, becoming a completely different person.

The rhythm of his muscles, skeleton, and limbs was filled with calm confidence. He was merely standing there, yet there was none of a high school student's raw awkwardness about him.

His posture was not standard, yet it looked more beautiful than an ordinary Hibernating Dragon Stance.

Even his fingertips trembled faintly, exhaling and inhaling barely perceptible killing intent.

"Damn, Meng Chao's Hibernating Dragon Stance is this strong?"

"He's practically better than the class monitor!"

"It's all an illusion. He can't fool me. He's using his life to show off. Just watch—at most one minute, and he'll definitely fall apart!"

One minute passed.

Meng Chao remained at ease.

It seemed as though he could keep standing until evening self-study.

Suddenly, he seemed to remember something and said apologetically, "Teacher Yan, do you have anything else? Is my stance not standard enough? I'm truly sorry. I haven't practiced for a while, so my movements aren't quite right. I'll definitely correct them properly when I get home. Please be lenient with me."

"..."

Yan Dongxing wanted to speak but stopped himself. Several expressions passed over his dark, gleaming face before he ultimately returned to the podium without saying a word.

The students cursed furiously in their hearts.

Was Meng Chao even speaking human language? His Hibernating Dragon Stance was still not good enough? Then what were they, earthworms?

Was it an illusion?

Everyone felt that after Meng Chao woke up, both his stance training and his ability to show off had been skyrocketing with a bang bang.

All kinds of gazes and pressure returned to Zuo Haoran.

The class monitor looked as though Meng Chao had slapped him hard across the face.

His expression was somewhat awkward, but a flash of ferocity flickered in his eyes.

"Class. Continue with class."

Yan Dongxing rapped the blackboard. "Hundred Battles Blade Technique and Thunder Cross Sword are the two most important cold-weapon combat techniques in high school. Last year's National College Entrance Examination finale was about Thunder Cross Sword. This year, it is highly likely to be Hundred Battles Blade Technique. Listen carefully as I analyze the seven advanced methods of cutting a battle blade into the gaps in a monster's carapace."

Yan Dongxing was a master of blade techniques and a gold-medal teacher.

It was said that he even had a senior brother who was a Peerless Expert in the National College Entrance Examination question-setting team.

For the past three years, Yan Dongxing had taught only seniors, and his success rate in predicting exam questions was extremely high.

Seeing their teacher bring out his special skill, everyone perked up and forgot about Meng Chao.

Meng Chao held the Hibernating Dragon Stance while watching the incomparably exquisite profundities of the blade technique, but his gaze was somewhat unfocused.

"Too clumsy. This blade technique is simply riddled with holes."

As though possessed, he muttered inwardly, "The very first move alone, Face-Splitting Wind Chop, has at least nine flaws. Using this sort of blade technique to contend against true Otherworldly powerhouses would guarantee death within the first second.

"But this is not Devil Yan's fault.

"Around the time of my National College Entrance Examination, this set of Hundred Battles Blade Technique had only recently been developed. It was still Version 1.0.

"By the time Dragon City was destroyed, it had absorbed a great deal of the essence of Blood Spirit Dual Blade Style and Frost Giant Greatsword Style. After being tempered a thousand times over, Hundred Battles Blade Technique had already been upgraded to Version 7.3.5.

"Of course I find Version 1.0 riddled with flaws when I measure it against the Hundred Battles Blade Technique Ultimate Edition.

"Wait, what the hell is Blood Spirit? What the hell is a Frost Giant? Why are these strange things appearing in my head?"

Meng Chao's expression was complicated.

He could no longer deceive himself into believing that he had merely had a daydream.

This was the legendary rebirth, wasn't it?

Rebirth itself was no big deal.

Although Meng Chao was only an utterly ordinary high school student, he had read webnovels.

Besides, he had grown up in Dragon City.

Ever since Dragon City had inexplicably crossed over from Earth to the Otherworld more than fifty years ago.

All sorts of bizarre and unimaginable things had happened within the city.

Three-year-old children awakening supernatural abilities, eighty-year-old old women cultivating ancient martial arts, housewives tearing zombies apart barehanded, white-collar workers battling monsters after work—these were all part of daily life for Dragon City residents.

Since crossing over had become reality, rebirth naturally had some mysterious and profound scientific basis as well. Meng Chao could accept that.

It was just that, judging from the images flashing through the depths of his mind.

Both his future and Dragon City's future were rather tragic.

The Earthlings who had crossed over believed they understood the Otherworld.

They had never expected the Otherworld's vastness and strength to far surpass the limits of Earthlings' imagination.

Even now, they only circled through the Otherworld's barbaric wilderness and had yet to leave the Novice Village.

And beyond the Novice Village...

Meng Chao felt as though he had awakened from a drunken stupor. His memories of his previous life were fragmented and blurry, and he could not recall exactly what the Otherworldly creatures besieging Dragon City had looked like.

He only remembered that the Otherworld possessed true civilization—every kind of powerhouse, every kind of monstrous genius, every kind of beast.

Compared to those beasts, the current "monster crisis" was truly a witch beside a great wizard.

Dragon City raised high the battle banner of Earth Civilization and marched into the mysterious Otherworld, fighting, striving, struggling.

It had once been resplendent and illustrious, known as the Otherworldly Calamity.

Yet in the end, outnumbered and unable to escape catastrophe, it had fallen.

Closing his eyes, Meng Chao seemed to see a million purple meteors exploding above Dragon City.

The flames of destruction were even more dazzling than fireworks.

The incomparably vivid scene seemed to have happened only an instant ago, burning from his retinas all the way into the depths of his soul.

"Was this... the ending?"

Meng Chao asked his seventeen-year-old self.

"Fuck that. I don't believe it. This is nothing but an absurd nightmare!"

He abruptly opened his eyes.

"Dragon City will not perish!

"And I absolutely will not live out an ordinary life as a Third-Rate Expert!

"Since I returned from the nightmare, I will definitely change the future and make those indescribable Otherworldly Gods and Devils open their fucking dog eyes wide and witness what the fucking Otherworldly Calamity truly means!"

Seventeen-year-old Meng Chao had not yet suffered society's beatings.

He still treated cringeworthy adolescent declarations such as "My fate is mine, not heaven's," "My life does not believe in fate," and "I will defy heaven and change my fate" as his personal mottos.

He gritted his teeth fiercely, his will firm.

The lightning-like flame deep in his eyes also grew brighter and brighter, releasing a faint sting.

"What is this now?" Meng Chao asked in surprise.

A red spot of light, like fire and lightning, floated in the upper-left corner of his field of vision, as elusive as floaters.

No one else should have been able to see it. Otherwise, if a Strange Fire were drifting around the classroom, everyone would have started shouting long ago.

And it looked somewhat familiar.

At the end of the nightmare, when Dragon City was destroyed, he seemed to have seen this Strange Fire erupt from the city's core.

Now, the Strange Fire had returned with Meng Chao to his youth.

Then it shattered with a pop, transforming into lines of profound and intricate runes.

Several hundred runes leaped wildly, changing from one strange worm-like script into another even stranger script, like information from Above the Stars, from the depths of the universe.

After changing dozens of times, the information was translated into Earth's language:

The host has passed the mental and willpower assessment.

"Fire Seed" binding complete. Host identity confirmed—"Flamebearer" Meng Chao.

Congratulations on becoming civilization's Flamebearer. We hope you will spare no effort in spreading the Civilization Fire. Initial Contribution Points reward: 10000.

An old hidden injury has been detected in the Flamebearer's body, and the Flamebearer is not proficient in any basic skills. Would you like to automatically allocate the initial Contribution Points and improve yourself to your optimal state?

"Fire Seed? Flamebearer? Making contributions? Contribution Points rewards? A rebirth gift package?"

Meng Chao was utterly confused and nodded subconsciously.

1000 Contribution Points consumed. One Elementary Healing Technique exchanged. Treatment progress: 10%.

1010 Contribution Points consumed. One Elementary Healing Technique exchanged. Treatment progress: 19%.

1025 Contribution Points consumed. One Elementary Healing Technique exchanged...

A string of messages flashed through Meng Chao's field of vision.

At the same time, warmth flowed into his entire body like a trickling stream, the gentlest caress, like the first tender shoot of a plant blooming in spring.

"My injuries! The hidden injuries I suffered from a cultivation mistake last year—even the doctors were helpless—but they're healing? I can feel it. Those shattered tendons and sinews are all reconnecting!"

Meng Chao's eyes widened. It felt so good that he wanted to sing at the top of his lungs.

Soon, after the string of treatment messages, an entirely new message appeared:

3500 Contribution Points consumed. Basic force-generating method Wild Bull Technique exchanged and upgraded to "Expert Level".

"This is—"

All kinds of details emerged in Meng Chao's mind.

The distortion of every muscle fiber and blood vessel when Wild Bull Technique was activated; the circulation of blood and neural currents through every acupoint; intricate calculation formulas involving bone strength and ergonomics; all kinds of scientific cultivation methods.

There were also scene after scene of him in the nightmare, painstakingly practicing Wild Bull Technique.

The once-blurry memories of his previous life shone brightly again, transforming into a flood of information that poured into his motor nerves and brain cells, instantly making him an expert in Wild Bull Technique.

With a thought, Meng Chao felt as though he could control every muscle at will, squeeze out his ultimate strength, and unleash an utterly hard and powerful punch.

"This feels amazing, amazing, amazing! So the legendary Third-Rate Experts are already this strong?"

Just as he was feeling so good he could barely contain himself, the pleasure came to an abrupt stop.

"Don't stop! I was just getting into it!"

A message appeared before his eyes:

Basic skills are divided into five grades: Ordinary, Expert, Master, Perfect, and Ultimate. A proficiency of 100% permits an upgrade. Proficiency may be accumulated through daily combat and cultivation, or exchanged with Contribution Points.

"Then exchange them like there's no tomorrow. Do I look like someone who cares about a few Contribution Points?"

Current Flamebearer treatment progress: 62%. Continuing to exchange Elementary Healing Technique requires 1150 Contribution Points.

Expert Level Wild Bull Technique proficiency: 22%. Upgrading to Master Level requires 1756 Contribution Points.

Current remaining Contribution Points: 3. Unable to exchange. Please accumulate Contribution Points.

"I... 10000 Contribution Points were spent that quickly? Then upgrade me to Master Level first. Can I write you an IOU?"

No.

"Then at least tell me how I'm supposed to earn Contribution Points!"

The Civilization Fire burns without end. The stronger civilization becomes, the stronger the Flamebearer becomes. Please make contributions to your civilization as soon as possible and unlock more power and missions!